glimpse

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a brief or incomplete view

   From the window I could catch a glimpse of the lake.

2. 2
   noun

   a vague indication

   I caught only a glimpse of the professor's meaning.

3. 3
   verb

   catch a glimpse of or see briefly

   We glimpsed the monarch as they got into their limousine.

4. 4
   verb

   To see or view (someone, or something tangible) briefly and incompletely.

   Morning!—the Vestal Mother of the Sun / Seem'st thou to be, since from thy bosom born, / (Thou that first glimpsest—like a white-stoled nun!—) / He springeth forth—Oh! thou triumphal Morn!— / His race of glory and of joy to run; […]

5. 5
   verb

   To perceive (something intangible) briefly and incompletely.

   I have only begun to glimpse the magnitude of the problem.

6. 6
   verb

   Chiefly followed by at or upon: to look at briefly and incompletely; to glance.

   The door always opens directly into the kitchen, without any vestibule; and, glimpsing in, you see that a cottager's life must be the very plainest and homeliest that ever was lived by men and women.

7. 7
   verb

   To shine with a faint, unsteady light; to glimmer, to shimmer.

   O Lothſome place where I / Haue ſene and herd my dere / When in my hart her eye / Hath made her thought appere / By glimſing with ſuch grace / As fortune it ne would, / That laſten any ſpace, / Betwene vs lenger ſhould.

8. 8
   verb

   To appear or start to appear, especially faintly or unclearly; to dawn.

   Straitvvaies on heapes the thronging cloudes ariſe, / As though the heauen vvere angry vvith the night, / Deformed ſhadovves, glimpſing in his ſight / As darkenes, for it vvould more darkened be, / Through thoſe poore crannies forcde it ſelfe to ſee.

Etymology

The verb is derived from earlier glimse (obsolete), from Middle English glimsen (“to dazzle; to glisten; to glance with the eyes”), possibly from Old English *glimsian, from Proto-West Germanic *glimmisōjan, from Proto-Germanic *glimō, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰley- (“to shine”). Doublet of glimmer. The noun is derived from the verb. Cognates Middle Dutch glinsen (modern Dutch glinsteren (“to glint, glitter, shimmer, sparkle; to glance”), glimmen (“to gleam, shine”)) Middle High German glimsen (“to glow, smoulder”), glinsen (“to glimmer, shine”) Middle Low German glinsen, glintzen, glinzen (…